AXIAL SOLIDS CONCENTRATION DISTRIBUTION IN SLURRY BUBBLE-COLUMNS

Slurry bubble columns containing suspended solid particles are often used as chemical reactors. The solid particles may be reactants, products or catalysts used for chemical reactions. In order to design these slurry bubble columns, the behavior of suspended solid particles must be known. Sedimentation-Dispersion model was first proposed by Cova, and Suganuma and Yamanishi, to describe the axial concentration profile of solid particles. Later many investigators modified this Sedimentation-Dispersion model. These investigators used different boundary conditions and interpreted the parameters of the model, i.e. the settling velocity of solid particles and axial dispersion coefficient of solid particles in different ways. Here the model and its modifications are reviewed along with the boundary conditions and the model parameters. Recently, Murray and Fan proposed another mechanistic model to account for the axial profile of solid particles. This model is also discussed at length and has been compared with the Sedimentation-Dispersion modeL